Movie review: Scarce scares in 'Ghost Stories'

By Al Alexander/For the Patriot Ledger

Friday

Apr 27, 2018 at 4:51 AM

The scares are scarce in “Ghost Stories,” but it’s hard not to admire the craftsmanship of writer-directors Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson in creating a reverent ode to horror movies of the past. What they lack in originality is compensated by good taste in sampling the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Sam Raimi, Stephen King and John Carpenter.

Visually, it’s a masterful undertaking; particularly the high quality of the special effects in a movie afforded a minimal budget. The pair gets a lot of bang for their few bucks. But narratively, “Ghost Stories” is pretty much all over the place in telling three interconnected stories of the supernatural.

It begins with a collage of photos from the formative years of Professor Phillip Goodman (Nyman doing triple duty), the host of “Psychic Cheats,” a cheeky BBC series that goes around exposing charlatans claiming to have open lines to the dead. Although it might not seem like it at first, those photos are a foreshadowing of a twisted ending that borrows heavily from “It” and “The Wizard of Oz.” See, I told you the directors have good taste.

Then the story, slight as it is, kicks in with the professor exposing a John Edward-like medium claiming to have connections with the great beyond. But in reality, the scammer is being fed information about grieving members of the audience over a transmitter hidden in his ear. It’s a clever opening, but really serves no purpose beyond establishing the professor as a non-believer. Thus, the stage is set for him to get his comeuppance after he’s summoned by his hero and mentor, Charles Cameron. The latter shocks the former when he tells the professor he actually does believe in the supernatural, and provides Goodman three examples why. But he wants definite proof that he’s right, asking the professor to visit all three parties and see if he was right to place faith in their stories.

The premise is intriguing, but the ensuing triptych doesn’t prove anything but a movie audience losing patience. It begins with Tony (Paul Whitehouse), a night watchman in an abandoned psychiatric hospital (shades of Brad Anderson’s truly terrifying “Session 9”) in which strange things begin to happen, including the appearance of a ghostly little girl in a yellow dress seductively running her mile-long fingernails along Tony’s face. Scary? No! Well shot? Yes! It’s the same in the professor’s next visit to weird teenager, Simon (Alex Lawther), haunted by the creature he struck with the family sedan on a deserted rural road. And again at his final stop at the home of a millionaire trader who lost his wife in childbirth.

What’s notable about the last guy is that he’s played by the always terrific Martin Freeman (“The Hobbit” trilogy), who breathes needed life into this ghost story with his usual blend of charm and smirkiness. Freeman pretty much takes over the final 40 of the film’s 97 minutes, and he’s sensational, revealing a series of surprises and twists. As clever as those turns might be, they lack resonance. Worse, they’re not earned. It’s like the filmmakers needed a cheap out in fashioning a way of connecting the three ghost-spotters in time for the cheesy finale.

It’s not nearly as clever as the directors think. It also doesn’t fully play by the film’s rules. Even on a second watch, it makes little sense. But “Ghost Stories” definitely succeeds at fashioning a prevailing mood of unease. It’s also surprisingly funny in spots. But the larks and quips don’t quite fit with the film’s creepy undertones. Yet, as a whole, “Ghost Stories” works as an intriguing mystery gorgeously shot by Ole Bratt Birkeland, making maximum use of light and dark to maintain an effective eeriness. But there just aren’t enough bonafide scares to accomplish what “Ghost Stories” sets out to do. And that’s truly haunting.